By Dayzsha Lino, Co-News Editor
As campus services close immediately due to the coronavirus outbreak, CSUDH student Monique Davis has started a petition on Change.org urging the President and Dean of Cal State Dominguez Hills to give students refunds for parking, university housing fees, and any other on-campus fees.
As of Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Parham’s announcement, the petition has already garnered the support of over 1,000 students who believe that the university should pay them back for fees they are not using.
Davis states her reasoning in the petition:
Since Cal State Dominguez Hills is transferring the rest of the semester online, students should be reimbursed for their parking passes, university housing fees, and on-campus fees. As students, we understand that the university is trying to adjust to this pandemic as smoothly as possible, but it is completely unfair that we are advised to stay away from campus but still pay for services that are unavailable.
Although various emails state that the campus will remain open, it is advised that extremely limited services will be available for safety and health reasons. It is already burdensome that we are expected to complete the rest of the semester online which eliminates the much-needed face to face interaction that CSUDH students need. It is even more burdensome to continue to pay for services that are unavailable to us. Most students invest their money into their education with confidence that their university will invest that money back into their students. With the remainder of the semester being online, we are unsure of how that money is being spent.
We appreciate the university staff for handling this situation quickly and looking out for our best interest, but it would benefit us financially even more if we have our fees returned to us.
Monique Davis
Some of the students who signed the petition commented on why they deserve a refund from CSUDH. Dartagnan Chavez said he signed the petition because he thinks his parking pass will now go to waste.
“I feel like I spent my money on a parking pass that I won’t get to use for the rest of the semester,” Chavez wrote.
Another student named Emily Rodriguez wrote, “Although I appreciate the university’s effort to keep us safe, I still do believe we shouldn’t have to pay for services that we aren’t using and for the price of a lower quality education.”
Seeing that California State University, Fullerton is able to refund parking passes, it is possible for CSUDH to do the same.
Students can sign the petition on Change.org using the link below:
